At an annual meeting, Elon Musk presented both Tesla’s results and outlook, but also answered questions from shareholders, not all of which were easy to deal with. This is what we took from it.
Tesla held its annual shareholder meeting on August 4, 2022 at the Gigafactory in Austin. After the voting phase, Elon Musk took the floor to present some important points of the evolution of Tesla, before starting a question and answer session with the shareholders.
In front of a white-hot audience, Elon Musk shared some pretty relevant information about the future of the brand. Amid a lot of hesitation, embarrassed laughter and waiting for the applause to stop, here are the 8 things that really stood out to us.
100 Million Tesla in 10 years? Why not according to Elon
Tesla has just passed the milestone of the 3 millionth car produced. In 10 years, the brand has gone from just under 3,000 cars manufactured (Tesla Roadster and first Model S) to 3,000,000 vehicles. Alongside an exponential curve worthy of an unrealizable business plan, Elon Musk was pleased to have achieved this result.
When asked about the outlook for the next decade, an audience participant offered a suggested answer: 300 million Teslas. Elon Musk thought and answered in the negative, but 100 million is not impossible according to him.
A new Gigafactory will be announced soon
The location of this new XXL factory is not yet fixed. The announcements will be made a little later in the year, but this Gigafactory will most likely concern the North American continent. In the states of the North or close to the Mexican border, nothing is excluded, not even the possibility of installing a Gigafactory in Canada.
Elon Musk did not hide that there is still a lot to do on the existing Gigafactory to improve them. We must solve the 10,000 small problems that are still slowing down the rise of sites like Austin or Berlin. However, the Shanghai and Freemont factories are cited as examples. Elon Musk expects the various production sites to be able to manufacture between 1 and 2 million vehicles each, but new sites will be needed to achieve the desired growth targets.
Tesla has already passed the milestone of 1.5 million vehicles produced over the year, and aims to reach 2 million by the end of 2022.
FSD: autonomous cars that work like elevators?
For Elon Musk, Full Self Driving (Tesla’s autonomous driving technology) is already working well. But, there are still a lot of improvements to be made, and the teams are working intensely on the subject to improve this.
Elon Musk compared the car of tomorrow to an elevator: “ You press a button and the elevator goes where it’s supposed to go “. He is working to achieve the same with cars. Everything will be imagined by improving the safety of passengers on board.
Currently, 100,000 users have access to these advanced features in the United States. By the end of the year, Elon Musk would like anyone who wants to test FSD in his Tesla to be able to do so.
IA and Optimus will be discussed in detail on September 30
Among the interesting things to remember about the Optimus robot is the fact that Elon does not understand why the public does not believe it. For him, “the Optimus robot could be much more profitable than cars in the long run “.
If the robot was initially confined to repetitive tasks, it could eventually open up to other possibilities. Elon Musk invites us to attend IA day on September 30, 2022 to learn more about his robot. If the robot looks like the event illustration, it might be interesting to follow.
Cybertruck prices are going to be much higher than announced in 2019
In 2019, Tesla announced pricing for Cybertruck that the brand ultimately won’t be able to honor. We expected it. ” Specs and price will be different, I know that’s bad news “added Elon Musk.
The prices will therefore be much higher, both because of inflation and as a result of many technical changes to the model, but Elon Musk assures him, it will be an extraordinary vehicle.
It confirms the given deadline for a production which will begin in mid-2023, it remains to know the new prices of the machine. We should be fixed on the question in the weeks to come.
USA vs China situation: peace and respect
The shareholders did not hesitate to ask particularly sensitive questions. A request regarding how Tesla viewed the geopolitical situation between the US and China somewhat embarrassed Elon Musk.
A question in the face of which he could only kick in touch, answering first with an embarrassed laugh: “ What could go wrong answering this question? “, before adding:” Let me just say that I hope for peace and respect. »
For once, we can’t accuse Elon Musk of adding fuel to the fire.
Recession: Towards a drop in Tesla prices in about 6 months
Some time ago, Elon Musk was rather alarmist about a possible lasting recession. Between a wave of layoffs and the rise in prices of the various models in the catalog, the company seemed to be preparing for a long period of crisis.
During this meeting, Elon Musk was a little more optimistic, indicating that he thought that the peak of inflation had passed, and that within 6 months prices could again be brought down.
What if he had to give up Tesla leadership for Twitter?
“Tesla will continue to do well, even if I were to be abducted by aliens…or if I were to return to my own planet (laughs). »
More seriously, Elon Musk has indicated that he will stay as long as he is useful to Tesla. The strategic plan is still dense and there are many things to optimize in terms of design, products and production. The subject of Twitter is thorny and Elon Musk cannot therefore respond as he would like, because of the ongoing legal proceedings.
During this long public intervention, the themes of robot taxis, superchargers, 4680 batteries, the production of Model Y, The Boring Company, solar production (Tesla Solar Roof), the ecological approach were also discussed. of the company. In any case, Elon Musk shares an optimistic vision of how the company fits into the center of ecology and the future. If you want to know more, you can watch Elon Musk’s full speech on YouTube: